How to Blag a Working Knowledge of Rugby

Scrums, advantages, knock ons, up and unders, lineouts, mauls, rucks – do you know your rugby lingo? How about your contemporary rugger knowledge? Who enjoyed Six Nation’s victory this year and which team landed the wooden spoon? Which managers made a name for themselves and which players were plagued by injury?

With the Six Nation’s concluding on Saturday (19th March), the pubs are once again relatively rugby free spaces, unless of course your local boozer plays Premiership games. If you struggled to keep up with the chat this year, it might be time to step away from the bar next time around…

Alternatively, if you can’t beat them, join them! To prepare you in advance, we’ve put together a helpful guide to blagging rugby knowledge when you’re as clueless about the “hooligan’s game played by gentlemen” as the IT Crowd’s Moss is about football…

1. Know your fly halvesA substantial amount of “rugby chat” centres on the respective pros and cons of fly halves. If you bone up on any rugby related info, take a moment to learn the names and stats of the national kickers. Dan Biggar is the one to watch in the Welsh team, with scoring 73.52% of kicks across his Six Nation’s career and taking the reigns from the injured Leigh Halfpenny in this year’s competition. England meanwhile faced a tricky fly half quandary this year with childhood friends Owen Farrell and George Ford both vying for their place on the team.

2. Know the coachesIf you can drop a few names from behind the scenes, you’re quids in as a bona fide rugby blagger. This year England’s coaching proved controversial as new, former Japan coach – Australian Eddie Jones – was brought in to replace Stuart Lancaster who had led the team through some less-than-successful seasons.

Jones kicked off his tenure with some eyebrow raising choices, including making ban-ridden hooker Dylan Hartley captain of England’s Six Nations team despite the player having missed 54 weeks over the course of his career because of bans caused by poor discipline.

3. Understand “advantage”You could just make the same outraged noises as everyone else, but if you want to be ahead of the pack and not second guessing your half-hearted groan of despair, understanding how to tell which team has won an advantage (and more importantly, whether your team have been robbed) will stand you in good stead. This guide will show you the ropes. All together now: “YOU WHAT???”

Have you ever had to blag rugby knowledge? Did you get away with it? What tactic did you use? What were your stand out Six Nations moments in 2016? Have your say in the Base London Facebook group.